1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing an electrode for a lithium ion secondary battery, and more particularly to an apparatus which manufactures an electrode for a lithium ion secondary battery by using granulated particles including an active material and a binder.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electrode for use in a lithium ion secondary battery is typically provided with an active material layer, which includes an active material, on a collector. The performance of the battery using this electrode can be stabilized by forming the active material layer homogeneous. The active material layer is typically formed by supplying a slurry-like electrode material, which is obtained by dispersing an active material in a liquid medium, onto a collector, drying same, and then consolidating the resultant. Moreover, an energy-saving, low-cost method for forming an active material layer is also known in which no liquid medium is used and the drying step is omitted. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2014-078497 discloses a method for manufacturing an electrode by coating a liquid binder with a gravure roller on the surface of a collector, supplying granulated particles, which are obtained by granulating active material particles and a binder, on the coating with a powder feeder, and pressurizing with rolling rolls under heating.